By Jonathan Lois
The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Renewable Energy to investigate Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) associated with investment, procurement, and receipt of grants meant to develop the renewable energy sector.
The Committee is to carry out the probe for the period of 2015 till date and report within four weeks for further legislative action.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion titled, “Need to Investigate Investments in Renewable Energy Sector and Foreign Grants received from 2015 till Date” sponsored by Hon. Jesse Okey Joe Onuakalusi.
The House noted that Electricity is a crucial factor in the economic and social development of every nation.
The House said it was aware that poor electricity generation and distribution pose a great challenge to the country’s economic development and living conditions of its people.
The House said it was cognizant of the fact that successive governments since 2015, in an effort to address electricity supply challenges, made huge investments and attracted multimillion-dollar foreign grants to the renewable energy subsector of the Power Industry in Nigeria to energise a viable and sustainable alternative energy and supply.
It recalled that in December, 2023, the World Bank approved 750 million dollars facility to boost Renewable Energy in Nigeria, with the objective of providing over 17.5 million Nigerians with improved access to electricity through distributed Renewable Energy solutions.
The House also recalled that in 2020, the federal government launched a 200 million dollars renewable energy project tagged “Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP)” to provide off-grid energy to over 500,000 people across 105,000 households in rural communities in Nigeria with facilities sourced from the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The House further recalled that in 2023, the Rural Electrification Agency reported that over 2 billion dollars in renewable energy had been attracted in the past decade without any noticeable improvement.
It worried that inspite of the huge investments and foreign grants to develop the renewable energy sector and contribute meaningfully to the public grid with the intention to improve electricity supply and boost the economy, no visible contribution from the renewable energy mix to the national grid has been recorded.
The House was alarmed that the dysfunctional electricity generation and supply system remain abetted, contrary to the objective behind the purpose-driven government investment and grants attracted and received to develop the renewable energy sector.
